Professor Layton and the Town of Dwarves
by FranziskavonKarmaWhippedYou
Summary: Elina Nyström and her dwarf friends call Professor Layton and Clive Dove to figure out what is altering the heights of the citizens in three months. But Elina has secrets, secrets that could change the investigator's lives...
1. Meeting of the Dwarves

Elina Nystr m ducked into the small room, feeling out of place in the house of dwarves. She wasn't normal-sized for a teenager, either. Oh no. She was a giant in the house of dwarves, and she felt ridiculously oversized in comparison to her friends.

"Miss Nystr m, it's good to see you," the smallest of the dwarves and ironically their 'leader' said kindly, inviting her to sit with a pat of his small hand against the table. Elina sat down, feeling far too big for her own good. "Is the professor on his way?"

"By Gressenheller's word of mouth, yes," Elina replied. She scarcely met the dwarves in person, more so by letter, and acted as their spy. She tended to keep away from other people to disguise her height, but she didn't get as many stares as the dwarves ever would, and she was more intimidating for squeezing information out of people.

"Excellent," one of the taller dwarves remarked. "It's about time this damn problem of dwarfism got settled."

A dwarf came racing in. "Miss Nystr m! The professor is here!"

Elina rose from her seat, hatred flashing across her eyes for a second.

She strolled outside into the town. Professor Hershel Layton, Luke Triton and Flora Reinhold were standing outside the Laytonmobile, gazing out at the town.

"Excuse me, Professor Layton?" Elina asked softly. Layton turned to face her. She towered above him like a menacing beast.

"Miss Nystr m, I expect?" Layton said, tilting his head sideways.

"That is correct. Welcome to the town of Dwarves and Giants," Elina said.

"Now why do you call it that?"

"Because we're all changing, Professor. Our heights are being dramatically altered by something. I am one of the few giants; most are turned into dwarves. Like my friends. All of them."

"Is there a chance we will be affected by this?" the Professor asked, worried for his, Luke and Flora's safety.

"It shows up in those who have lived here for three months or more," Elina reported. "Please, Professor. If we cannot return to our original sizes, please stop this. For all of us."

"I'm afraid I can make no promises," the Professor said truthfully, "but I shall try my best to stop this."

"That's all we needed to hear," Elina admitted. "Nice to meet you, Hershel Layton." 


	2. Welcome, Professor Hershel Layton

Elina had promptly given Layton and company the tour around town and after several times insisting that he use her first name, she was satisfied that Layton knew his way around the place.

"I need to go now," she said softly. "I'm expecting someone else."

"You're expecting somebody else?" Layton queried. "Might I inquire as to whom?"

"Clive Dove," Elina replied, and strode off.

* * *

><p>Clive stood by the huge gates of the town, shivering. The idiot who had let him through the gate had taken his coat, because of 'policy'. Screw policy, Clive was goddamn cold.<p>

Elina quickly strode over to him, holding a coat in her hands. She handed it over to Clive. "Sorry about the coat thing. The mayor believes that we shouldn't be contaminated by other cities, but we managed to convince him to stop taking every single article of clothing on his guests. It's just the coat now."

Clive accepted the coat. It had a camouflage pattern in green, and when he slid it on, he was flushed with heat. "Thanks. So where's the lab?"

"Where are your friends?" Elina asked with a tilt of her head. "I was expecting them to be here with you."

"Don Paolo is flying over from Italy, and Jean Descole is just taking his time. He always does that," Clive sighed. "I guess I'll be starting off the project alone. They should be here tomorrow, so tell everyone to be on guard." Elina nodded and took him throgh the town until they reached a high-tech looking-building made mostly of glass.

"This is the lab," Elina said, and opened the glass door. "Make sure to always hang your coat and blazer up and put on a lab coat." Elina slipped off her mauve coat and her red cardigan and hung them up on a peg, then grabbed a pristine white lab coat and pulled it on. Clive did the same and they walked through white corridors until they reached a door.

"So we'll be working in Room 16?" Clive questioned, walking through the door into the laboratory.

"17 is available for your usage too, as are all the tools here. We want to get to the bottom of this as much as you do," Elina replied. "I'll leave you to it. Professor Layton and his friends will be the more physical part of the investigation, so you're required to call him regularly." Clive nodded and sat down in a swivelling chair, giving it a spin.

Elina quickly left the room and Clive picked up the phone, dialling the number neatly written on a scrap of paper underneath the heading 'Layton'. "Professor?"

"Who is this?" Layton's crackly voice came back.

"Clive Dove. I'll be working in the laboratory. You've got to bring me all the evidence you find. Rooms 16 and 17 in the lab. See you." Clive hung up and spun round in his chair again.

* * *

><p>The plane arrived at Heathrow a mere ten minutes later than expected. Don Paolo, having gone through countless security checks, was glad to be out in the fresh air, though it was short-lasted.<p>

A horse-drawn carriage was sitting outside the airport. Don Paolo knew it was his ride, and he pulled himself in. He felt claustrophobic in the tight space and perched himself on the edge of the seat. Jean Descole was sitting next to him, perfectly poised and silent.

"This will be a long journey. You'll cause yourself more harm than good sitting like that," he informed Don Paolo, who sighed and sat back. "Have you heard the details of the case yet?"

"Am I supposed to?" Don Paolo snapped. "I just got a stupid call telling me to get my ass over here and that you'd be taking me to dwarf town."

"Did anyone ever teach you proper etiquette?" Descole sighed. "So ill-mannered... If you stay in the town for more than three months, your height begins to alter. You either shorten down to a dwarf, or shoot up to a giant. The former is more common, and it seems the town wish to end the dwarfism. So we must find what is altering their heights, and ultimately halt the process if it is possible."

"And we'll be working with Clive?"

"See, you are somewhat informed. That is the idea. We will be working with him inside a laboratory. That is what they tell me," Descole explained. "It seems like it'll provide some interesting results."


	3. The Secrets of an Evil Mastermind

**You won't believe this chapter. It's mind-blowing. Read on, children.**

* * *

><p>Elina and Clive were waiting by the gate, holding a coat each in their arms, when the carriage drew up to the gate. The gatekeeper called them out; the elegant Descole and the not-so-elegant Don Paolo, who almost fell flat on his face. The gatekeeper took their coats and let them through, unfortunately without Raymond and the carriage.<p>

"Raymond!" Descole called. "Go home. I'll call for you when I must." His butler nodded and turned the carriage around. Don Paolo, shivering, had already made his way to Elina and had snatched the coat out of her hands. Descole elegantly walked over and plucked the cape (because that was his 'coat', of sorts) and pulled it on, making him seem somewhat more refined.

Don Paolo stared at Elina. "You... No, that's not possible." He shook his head and stared at her further.

"Is there something wrong?" Elina asked curiously, looking at the moustached man.

"You just remind me of someone I know..." he murmured. It was Elina's turn to stare at him.

"No... No! That can't be. It can't be," Elina took several steps back, shaking her head. "No. No. No."

"What? Tell me!" Don Paolo insisted, resisting every urge to grab her by the shoulders and shake her until she gave him the details of what she knew.

"I can't. I won't! I need to check. Clive, take them to the labs; I'm off," Elina cried, then bolted off. Clive frowned in her direction.

"I wonder what's wrong with her," he sighed. "Well, follow me."

* * *

><p>Once Clive had quickly briefed Don Paolo and Descole on the whole case, he pulled on his coat and ran out into the town. He had no idea where Elina might be, so he just ran around a bit until he ran into Layton.<p>

"Professor, do you have any idea where Elina might be?" Clive asked, gasping and panting desperately.

"I saw her head into that building there," Layton said, gesturing to a small house. Clive nodded and dashed off to the house and knocked on the door, but it was open. He stepped inside. The first room was a corridor kept neatly, with a litter tray about a metre down and a black cat sitting in the centre, its tail thumping against the wooden floor.

Clive made his way down the hall, the floor creaking with each step. He peered into the first few rooms - a bedroom filled with bookshelves, posters, clothes and one bed. The next room was a kitchen, and the next an empty room. He saw a room at the end of the hall and stepped out into it. There was a fireplace at the back of the room and Elina was standing in front of it, holding something.

There was a television in the corner of the room, a sofa, a table with a computer on top, and a cat basket. Clive walked over to Elina.

"Elina?" She jolted upright and spun round to face him. "Sorry," Clive apologised quickly. Elina's gaze returned to a photograph in her hand.

"I don't want this to be true," she said, tears brimming in her eyes. "I don't want this to be true." Clive gently took the picture from Elina and he nearly dropped it.

"Jesus Christ, that's... That's impossible!"

* * *

><p>Don Paolo and Descole had been calling up Clive and Elina for an hour and they had no response. Layton, Luke and Flora had tried, too, but got nothing.<p>

"This is getting somewhat worrying," Descole sighed, pacing the lab back and forth. "Our host and one of our own have disappeared without a trace. This seems rather disturbing." He tried phoning Clive again, but to no avail.

"Where the hell are they?" Don Paolo growled. "I'm going to find them."

"I will help," Descole said, rising to his feet. They strode out and pulled their coats on, then strolled out into the town. There were a bunch of dwarves walking around, and a giant too.

"I feel stupid," Don Paolo said, glancing down at a dwarf that toddled past him. "Being this height."

"You'll get over it in time. At least you aren't a giant," Descole replied. "Now let's ask around." They questioned a few people but found nothing. Descole managed to get Layton to give them the directions to Elina's house.

Clive was sitting on the porch outside Elina's small house, reading a children's novel because nothing was more interesting than reading The Mortal Instruments series. Every few minutes or so, he glanced over at the ajar door and sighed.

Descole approached him. "Nice book," he said dryly, plucking it out of Clive's hand. "This is a girl's book, Clive. 'Sexy' Shadowhunters?"

"Not sexy," Clive amended, "Badass." He reached up and took the book back. "Could you ask Elina if she's finished?"

"Suure," Don Paolo grunted, blasting the door open and storming inside. "Elina!" He barreled down the hallway and into the living room, where Elina was standing holding a picture and reminiscing of days long past. She was so shocked that she dropped the picture and it shattered, but Don Paolo strode over and picked it up. His eyes widened and he looked up at Elina.

"I'm sorry," she whispered. "I didn't think you were... I wasn't sure..."

"If anyone should be sorry, it's me," Don Paolo replied with a sigh. "I ignored you. All these years passed by, and I never once bothered about you, thought about you, cared about you..."

"It's not your fault," Elina murmured. "It's mine. I shouldn't exist. I was an accident."

Descole strode into the room, looking annoyed. "What? What on Earth are you two on about?"

Don Paolo grimly handed over the photograph. Descole didn't show any signs of shock, but he looked up at Elina. "So you are..."

"...Don Paolo's daughter," Elina finished.

* * *

><p><strong>DUN DUN DUUUUUN! Elina Paolo... sounds kind of badass. Anyway, The Mortal Instruments is a good series. I'm on book two. Whee. Anyway, I will further explain my awesome twist later. For now, I shall bask in the sunlight. And eat cake. I love cake.<strong>


	4. The Problems of Elina Nyostrom

"How does that work?" Descole asked impatiently. "You look nothing-" Elina stepped next to Don Paolo and Descole stopped. "How did I fail to notice?"

"I didn't know either. I had to check if it really was true," Elina sighed, twiddling her thumbs. "I... They always told me my father was an inventor. A genius. They told me he was dead. I didn't question them because I was a good little girl."

"Them?" Descole queried.

"My mother and her new husband," Elina murmured. "They're both turning in their graves now, I expect. They died in a car accident three years ago."

"So, Don Paolo, how exactly did this little daughter of yours come about?" Descole asked impatiently, folding his arms. "And why did you ignore her all her life?"

"I did NOT ignore her!" Don Paolo yelled. "She was the product of a one-night stand. I didn't expect the woman to get pregnant! But she did, and she expected ME to fund the kid while I had no say in the kid's life. Not as if I ever wanted to care for a kid." He folded his arms. "I sent her 500 and changed my number so she could never bother me again. She never did."

Descole glanced at the picture. "But how did this come about?"

Don Paolo tilted his head sideways. "Alright, alright, I tell a lie. I was attending a Christmas party, and she was there with Elina and... Well, the photograph happened." He smiled weakly. "At least I get to meet my daughter instead of living my life not knowing her."

"Though I'm not sure if I entirely want to be with you," Elina said, causing Don Paolo to flinch.

"What? What did I do?" he demanded.

"You abandoned me and mother!"

"I didn't want to raise a child! It was a one-night stand! You were an accident!"

"Well I don't like being called an accident!"

"Shut up, the pair of you," Descole said. "Calm. Deep breaths. Elina; it was better Don Paolo did not raise you. He would have made a mess of your childhood. He does not know how to treat children, calling them brats. At least you had a loving father. He wants to spend time with you now because he can talk to you like he would any other adult. Pushing him away will only hurt you both. Embracing his return will ultimately mean you both fare better."

"Fine," Elina said, folding your arms. "I guess you won't mind if I tell you something new, then?"

"Nope," Don Paolo replied. "After this, I don't think anything else can surprise me."

"I'm think I'm pregnant," Elina said with a stony face.

"And I was wrong," Don Paolo sighed.

The waiting room in the small hospital wasn't very cheerful. The posters were all about what diseases you could have and to look out for the signs. Elina wasn't entirely sure she was pregnant, so she had decided to go to the hospital and check. Don Paolo and Clive were with her, while the others tried to make progress with their increasingly off-track investigation.

"Elina Nyostrom?" a cheerful nurse called. Elina stood up and glanced back at the two men who she had ordered to stay in the waiting room. They both nodded at her and she slowly walked away. Clive let out a sigh as she disappeared.

"What if she is pregnant?" he asked, looking over at the fish tank. "What do we do then?"

"I'm too young to be a grandfather!" Don Paolo laughed. "Anyway, I wonder who the father might be. It didn't seem to me as if Elina was sleeping with anyone."

"Yeah... I didn't see signs of anyone else in the house. Single bed and bedroom, all the stuff seemed to be Elina's... No signs of any guys," Clive murmured. "I hope she tells us. I'm fascinated."

After what felt like an eternity of anxious waiting and leafing through magazines, the men looked up to see Elina walking in. She looked sombre and grim.

"I am," she said simply. Clive dropped the magazine he had been holding. Don Paolo buried his head in his hands and made a noise of pain.

"Who's the father?" he asked, muffled by his hands. Elina turned around and bolted off. Clive jumped to his feet.

"Elina! Wait!" he yelled and dashed after her, but by the time he emerged from the hospital, Elina was nowhere to be seen. Luke and Flora ran over to Clive.

"What's up, Clive?" Luke asked cautiously. "Sorry I haven't seen you, Flora and I were exploring the forests at the outskirt of the town."

"Elina... Have you seen Elina?" Clive inquired.

"Nope. Why?"

"She's pregnant. I need to talk to her."

"Are you the father?"

Clive stared down at Luke. "I haven't been here long enough to impregnate her, Luke. Oh, and did I tell you Don Paolo is Elina's father?" Luke took a step back.

"DON PAOLO?" he asked. "Are we talking the same evil man, with the moustache, who tried to run me over with a Ferris wheel?" Clive glumly nodded his head.

"The very same," he replied. "But I need to see Elina."

"Why?" Flora piped up. "I'm sure she wants some space."

Clive glanced down at Flora. "You know, you're craftier than we give you credit for." He straightened his tie. "How's the investigation going?"

"Well, Descole's examining some articles of clothing from dwarfs right now," Luke explained. "And the Professor is trying to snag some samples from the air, but I think he's having trouble."

Clive snorted. "I'll go and help Descole down at the lab, then. Have fun in the forest."

Elina pressed her fingers against her aching temples and sighed. "Uggh..." She couldn't believe it. She was pregnant. And the father... the father...

Someone opened the door to the house. She sat upright on the bed and then pulled the duvet over to cover her naked upper body. Don Paolo walked into her room and glanced down at her.

"Were you sleeping?" he asked, sitting down next to the bed.

"No. Thinking," Elina replied impatiently.

"Are you going to tell me who the father is now?" Don Paolo asked. "I want to know. I am your father, after all."

"Even if you ignored me for all these years?"

"...even if I ignored you for all those years, you're still my daughter."

"The father... the father..." Elina cut off, tears rolling down her face. Don Paolo produced a crumpled tissue from his pocket and gently placed it in Elina's hand. "The father is a rapist." Don Paolo flinched as if he'd been hit.

Don Paolo stood up. "I suppose you don't want me bothering you today?"

"Stay here," Elina whimpered. "I don't care if you've ignored me, I want someone here."

Don Paolo sat down again and leaned against the bed. "Alright. So what are you going to do with the baby?"

"I'm going to abort," Elina replied. Don Paolo nodded.

"That's a good choice." 


End file.
